FRANCE. 



259 



ber there are now in Germany, where they have 

 increased in that time 120,000 and reductions 

 are made in the annual drawings, whereas in 

 France there are not enough to fill the battal- 

 ions. The* bill proposed to enroll in the army 

 all those who, physically incapable of marching 

 and fighting, could perform administrative or 

 clerical duties or assist in the ambulance corps 

 or the commissariat. For students postpone- 

 ment of service would be allowed. There are 

 0,000 men employed as orderlies and as shoe- 

 makers, tailors, etc., who would be incorporated 

 in the army. At present 58 per cent, of the in- 

 fantry and a part of the cavalry really serve 

 only ten months. The available effective is re- 

 duced by exemptions and dispensations by a 

 third. The abolition of these is expected to 

 yield 489,000 conscripts serving two years. The 

 reduction of the limit of stature and the reen- 

 listment of more non-commissioned officers and 

 of 7,000 privates, with the addition of the Al- 

 gerian contingent, would supply the deficiency of 

 50,000 men that the change from three to two 

 years would entail, so that the army would be 

 kept up to its required strength of 539,000 men. 

 The cost of the change in bounties for reenlist- 

 ment and relief to families deprived of breadwin- 

 ners was estimated at 70,000,000 francs a year. 

 The total strain on the people would be greater, 

 but it would be equal, and the classes now called 

 upon to pay the main part of the blood tax 

 would be relieved of a part of their burden. The 

 military training of the army as a whole would 

 be improved, since the three years' system does 

 not secure two years' training for a great 

 part of the military population, including the 

 most intelligent, classes. The duration of mili- 

 tary service under the bill is two years in the 

 active army, eleven years in its reserve, six years 

 in the territorial army, and six years in its re- 

 serve, making twenty-five years altogether. 



The final session of the Chamber elected in 

 1898 ended on March 30. The Senate refused to 

 make the duration of the next Chamber six in- 

 stead of four years, postponing the question for 

 riper consideration in the new Parliament. The 

 I Government supported the measure, on the ground 

 that the first session of every Chamber is de- 

 voted to preliminary discussions and the last is 

 agitated by electoral considerations, leaving but 

 two sessions for practical work, and in spite of 

 the opposition of the Socialists under M. Viviani 

 and of M. Rouvier and M. Pelletan the bill passed 

 the Chamber by 298 votes to 237. The Prime 

 Minister defended the measure ia the Senate be- 

 cause it would give the Government opportuni- 

 ties to dissolve the Chamber, a power that has 

 never been used except in consequence of Mar- 

 shal Macmahon's coup d'etat in May, 1877. Of 

 various new regulations against fraud in elec- 

 tions the Senate adopted only one, invalidating 

 elections to the Chamber procured by falsifica- 

 tion. The issue of short-term bonds for 70,000,- 

 000 francs to meet the deficit the Chamber tried 

 to cut down, believing the budget could be bal- 

 anced with 44.000.000 francs. When the Cham- 

 ber voted 10,000.000 francs to give the soldiers 

 better meat and wine rations the Senate allowed 

 only 1,000.000 francs, but the training of the ter- 

 ritorial army for two weeks which the Chamber 

 deemed iiseless the Senate insisted on continuing 

 for nine days at least every year. 



The Elections. The new Chamber consisted 

 <>f .'()l instead of 581 members. In the reappor- 

 tionment of seats on the basis of the last census 

 3 arrondissements lost a Deputy each and 13 

 gained one. The Radical Republicans in their 



electoral manifesto called for reform of the direct 

 taxes, an income tax, two years' military serv- 

 ice, insurance against labor accidents, a work- 

 ing men's superannuation fund, and agricultural 

 credit societies. Like other sections of the Re- 

 publican party, they denounced the Nationalists 

 and the Congregations on the one hand and Col- 

 lectivism on the other. The Catholic bishops 

 generally warned the clergy against endeavoring 

 to influence votes. The Patrie Frangaise League 

 and other organizations of Nationalists election- 

 eered energetically and vituperated the ministers. 

 The Legitimists, Orleanists, and Bonapartists of 

 other days were merged in one Conservative 

 party, ready to accept any monarchical form of 

 government, and this party was feeble in numbers 

 and energy compared with the Nationalists, now 

 the chief Opposition party, willing to advocate 

 any change, reactionary or even revolutionary, 

 by which they could come into power. They are 

 a combination of former royalists and Bona- 

 partists still looking for a revival of their cause, 

 others ready to accept any cause that would open 

 a career for them, Clericals anxious to revive the 

 political influence of the Church, Rallied Repub- 

 licans who had already given up monarchism as 

 a lost cause, Anti-Semites, and adventurous, am- 

 bitious, and eccentric deserters of the Repub- 

 lican, Radical, and Socialist parties. The Plebis- 

 citarians did not openly reject the republic, but 

 would attach themselves to the fortunes of any 

 dictator who would destroy it amid the accla- 

 mations of the multitude. The Progressives, led 

 by M. Me'line and M. Ribot, would purge the 

 republic of Socialists and Socialist Radicals, 

 hoping to reconcile Clericals and Conservatives 

 to a republican Government ruled by modera- 

 tion and respect for property. The Radical Re- 

 publicans, the aggressive and dominant section of 

 the Ministerial party, are the men who since 

 Gambetta led them have carried out the princi- 

 pal reforms that have marked French legisla- 

 tion for twenty years, and who of late have had 

 a majority in the Senate as well as in the Cham- 

 ber. The Socialist Radicals would proceed more 

 precipitately in social legislation than the Rad- 

 icals. The Parliamentary Socialists, represented 

 by M. Millerand in the Cabinet and by M. Jaures 

 and M. Viviani in the Chamber, adhere theoret- 

 ically to Collectivist ideals, but will cooperate 

 with other parties in effecting social reforms 

 and labor legislation gradually. The anti-Par- 

 liamentary Socialists, led by Jules Guesde, repro- 

 bate alliances with capitalistic parties. The Revo- 

 lutionary Socialists, like the anarchists, generally 

 refrain from voting and political activity and 

 would sweep away the existing Government by 

 revolution and terrorism. The Nationalists, who 

 had already won the municipality of Paris from 

 the Socialists, made a great struggle to gain the 

 constituencies in the capital, and with a profuse 

 use of money opposed Ministerialist candidates 

 in all parts of France. The women of the aris- 

 tocracy, angered by the antiassociations law, 

 took a public part in electioneering, as women 

 in France had never done before. There were 

 about 2,500 candidates, an average of more than 

 4 for every seat, 6 in Paris. The Duke of Or- 

 leans instructed the remaining adherents of the 

 Bourbon monarchy to set up Royalist candidates 

 where they had a chance of success, and where 

 not to vote for some other anti-Republican can- 

 didate, or, if there was none likely to win. to vote 

 with any party opposed to the Government. In 

 many departments the clergy did actively inter- 

 vene in the elections, drawing from M. Waldeck- 

 Rousseau when the elections were past a threat 



